Laundry apparatus



July 3, 1934. YSTRAMAGLIA 1,965,480

LAUNDRY APPARATUS Filed Jan. 17, 1953 3 Sheets-Sheet l L I (I db Q IJVE'coZa j'trazn ayk'a/ INVENTOR HIS ATTORNEYS July 3, 1934. N.STRAMAGLIA v 5,

LAUNDRY APPARATUS Filed Jan. 17, 1955 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR HISATTORNEYS y 1934. N. STRAMAGLIA 1,955,480

LAUNDRY APPARATUS Filed Jan; 17, 1935 a Sheets-Sheet 5 HIS ATTORNEY5Patented July 3, 1934 UNITED STATES LAUNDRY APPARATUS Nicola Stramaglia,Chicago, 111.

Application January 17,

1933, Serial No. 652,235

2 Claims. (Cl. 34-5) This invention relates to certain novelimprovements in laundry apparatus, and has for its principal object theprovision of an improved construction of this character which will behighly efiicient in use and economical in manufacture.

An object of this invention is to provide a new and improved laundrydryer of the perforated drum tumbler type.

Another object-of the invention is to provide a new and improved laundrywasher of the perforated dr'um tumbler type.

One common form of laundry drier now in use in the art, is theperforated cylindrical drum tumbler through the perforations in whichheated air is driven by blowers arranged below the tumbler so as todrive the heated air upwardly through the perforations in the tumbler.This arrangement has not been satisfactory in the art, among otherreasons, because when the drum tumbler is in operation the wet clothestherein gravitate to the bottom of the tumbler, closing the perforationsin the bottom of the tumbler, and thus preventing the heated air from abeing driven upwardly through the perforations in the bottom of thetumbler and through the clothes therein.

It is, therefore, another object of this invention to overcome theforegoing objectionable feature of the prior art tumbler driers and toprovide a new and improved arrangement for circulating the heated airthrough the tumbler so as to improve the efliciency of the drier ineffecting the drying operation.

Other objects will appear hereinafter.

The invention consists in the novel combination and arrangement of partsto be hereinafter described and claimed.

The invention will behest understood by reference to the accompanyingdrawings, showing the preferred form of construction and in which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of a preferred form of the new drier;

Fig. 2 is an end elevational view on in Fig. 1;,

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the same; I

Fig. 4 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view of the new drier;

Fig. 5 is a transverse vertical sectional view of the new drier;

Fig. 6 is an end elevational view on line 6-6 in Fig. 4;

Fig. 7 is a sectional-detail view on line 77 in Fig. 5;

line 2-2 .the housing and the drum 17 (Figs. 5 and '7) Fig. 8 is asectional detail view on line 8-8 in Fig. 5; and

Fig. 9 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view of a modification ofthe'invention showing the new tumbler dr un constructed for use as awasher.

The new drier is generally indicated at 10, in Figs. 1 to 8, inclusive,of the drawing, and includes a casing or housing 14 having a front wall11 in which are arranged doors 12 and 13. These doors 12 and 13 provideaccess to the upper and lower compartments 32 and 24, respectively, intowhich the housing is divided by a partition 41 having a trough 41'formed therein which is semi-circular in cross-section and inclineddownwardly toward an exhaust opening 33.

Rotatably journaled in suitable bearings in the end walls 15 and 16(Fig. 4) of the housing 14 are hollow trunnions 16 of the new perforatedcylindrical drum tumbler 17 which is arranged in the upper compartment32 of the housing 14. Means for operating the tumbler are generallyindicated at 18 and include driven gears 19, one fast on each of thetrunnions 16; driving gears 20 arranged upon a common shaft 21; and apinion gear 22 associated with one of the gears 20 and with aconventional reversible motor 23 by means of which the drum or tumbler17 may be oscillated, or tumbled, which is the customary manner ofoperating this type of drier.

In practicing my invention 1'. arranged in the compartment 24 belowthetumbler 17, a heating element which, as shown, takes the form ofsteam coils 25. Arranged in the compartment 24 are blowers 26 andleadingfrom the compartment 24 are fluid conducting conduits or pipes 27 whichopen at their upper ends (Fig. 4) into the hollow trunnions 16. Each ofthe trunnions 16 open at their inner ends (Fig. 4) into false heads orcompartments 28 one of which is formed in each end of the drum ortumbler 17. These false heads 28 in turn communicate with perforatedhollow tumbler vanes or rib members 29 which are formed in, and extendlongitudinally or axially of the drum 1?, on the inner side thereof.

. The housing 14 has a dry air inlet 30 at the top thereof, controlledby a damper 31. Opening out of the bottom of the upper compartment 32 ofthe housing 14 is a damp exhaust inlet 33 with which is associated anexhauster 34 for withdrawing damp air from the housing 14 during thedrying operation. Additional steam coils 35 are preferably extended upfrom the coils 25 through the housing 14, between one side wall of Figs.1 to 8, inclusive The wet clothes to be dried are inserted into thetumbler 17 through a conventional sliding door 35 thereon and the motor23 and gears 22- 20-19 and shaft 21 operated to oscillate the tumbler 17in a rotary motion upon its hollow trunnions 16. Steam being blownthrough the coils 25, and the blowers 26 operated, heated air is forcedout of the compartment 24, through the hot air pipes or conduits 27,through the hollow trunnions 16, through the false drum heads 28, andthence into the perforated vanes or ribs 18, from which the heated airemerges into the tumbler 17 to circulate therethrough and dry the wetclothes therein.

When the drum or tumbler 17 is in operation the clothes therein, carriedor tumbled by the ribs 29, naturally gravitate to the bottom of thesame, but since the ribs or vanes 19 are radially arranged about theinner side of the drum or tumbler, the hot air will circulate readilythrough the drum 17 and clothes therein from all directions that areradial relative to the trunnions 16, and the circulation of the heatedair will not be obstructed by the clothes in the bottom of the drum asit is in the prior-art devices in which the hot air is blown upwardlythrough the perforations in the drum.

The damp air, lint, etc,, are withdrawn from the compartment 32 by theexhauster 34, the op-- eration of which also causes fresh dry air toenter the compartment 32 of housing 14 through the inlet 30; thecompartments 32 and 24 having communication by reason of the fact thatthe partition 41 between the compartments 24 and 32 does not extend tothe rear wall 42 of the hous ing 14 (Fig. 5).

Construction and operation of the modification shown in Fig. 9

In the modification shown in Fig. 9, the new apparatus is adapted foruse as a washer, rather than as a drier, and comprises a drum or tumbler36 that is exactly the same in construction as the drum 17; havingperforated tumbler vanes or ribs 37 similar to the ribs or vanes 29;hollow trunnions 38 the same in construction as the trunnions l6; andfalse drum heads or compartments 39 similar to the false drum heads orcompartments 28. However, instead of leading hot air conduits or pipesinto the trunnions 28 in the modification of Fig. 9, as is done in theform shown in Figs. 1 to 8, inclusive, water-conducting pipes 40 are ledinto the hollow trunnions 38.

When the drum 36 is oscillated, water from the pipes 40 circulatesthrough the trunnions 38, through the false drum heads 39, and thenceinto the perforated vanes or ribs 37, from which the water circulatesfreely through the clothes and drum since the water emerges into thedrum from all directions that are radial relative to the trunnions 38and the longitudinal axis of the drum. This I found a more effective wayof circulating the water through the drum during the washing or rinsingoperation than by means of an overhead spray or other device now used inconjunction with drum washers.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred form ofconstruction for carrying my invention into efiect, this is capable ofvariation and -modification, without departing from the spirit of theinvention. I, therefore, do not wish to be limited to the precisedetails of construction set forth, but desire to avail myself of suchvariations and modifications as come within the scope of the appendedclaims.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire toprotect by Letters Patent is:

1. A laundry apparatus comprising in combination a casing divided intoupper and lower compartments and having a dry air inlet communicatingwith the upper compartment and an exhaust opening communicating with thelower compartment, a tumbler within the upper compartment including drumheads at opposite end portions and perforated agitating ribs extendinglongitudinally of the tumbler with end portions in communication withthe drum heads, hollow trunnions supporting the tumbler within the uppercompartment, a heating coil within the lower compartment andcommunicating with the trunnions and having a coil section extendingupwardly into the upper compartment adjacent the tumblers and exposed tosaid tumbler, and means for oscillating said tumbler.

2. A laundry apparatus comprising in combination a casing, a partitionin said casing having an inclined trough and dividing the casing intoupper and lower compartments and said casing having a dry air inletcommunicating with the upper compartment and an exhaust outletcommunicating with the trough at its lowest point thereof, a tumblerwithin the upper compartment including drum heads at opposite endportions and perforated agitating ribs extending longitudinally of thetumbler with end portions in communication with the drum heads, hollowtrunnions supporting the tumbler within the upper compartment, a heatingcoil within the lower compartment and communicating with the trunnionsand having a coil section extending upwardly into the upper compartmentadjacent the tumblers and exposed to said tumbler, and means foroscillating said tumbler.

' NICOLA STRAMAGLIA.

